Meeting lasts five minutes, no mayor’s report included
Five minutes. That’s how long an Invercargill City Council meeting has lasted, just 24 hours after the council’s problems were aired for all to see.
The council held its monthly full council meeting yesterday, a day after the findings of an independent review into the council were released to the public.
The review report says mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt is struggling to fulfil the role, although Shadbolt has since rubbished the report saying he is not prepared to be the scapegoat for the council’s shortfalls.
Media packed the council chambers for the meeting yesterday.
Councillors confirmed minutes before moving on to the only other agenda item, Shadbolt’s monthly mayoral report.
However, he did not produce it. ‘‘There is no mayor’s report for this meeting because I’ve been informed there aren’t enough items to be discussed,’’ Shadbolt said.
The meeting then moved into public excluded where councillors had more meeting minutes to confirm.
In his mayoral report, Shadbolt traditionally lists his engagements for the past month, and also provides some commentary on different issues.
He has previously come under fire from some councillors for not providing them with enough feedback from his various external stakeholder meetings.
In May, then deputy mayor Toni Biddle, put up a motion at a meeting to allow her to attend all official stakeholder meetings with Shadbolt, which she said would ensure good reporting back to council.
Councillors agreed and Biddle started to produce her own deputy mayor’s reports to keep councillors informed.
However, Biddle resigned from council last month saying: ‘‘He [Shadbolt] has been the figurehead while I have done the work.’’
Shadbolt, at the time, in response to Biddle’s comment denied allegations he was not pulling his weight.